Neeṣooian

Natively known as: Neeṣoo /ˈneːʂoː/

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d g h j k l m n p r s t w x ŋ ɖ ɭ ɲ ʂ ʈ ʎ ʔ ʦ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b	t d	ʈ ɖ		k g		ʔ
Affricate		ʦ
Fricative		s	ʂ		x		h
Approximant				j		w
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l	ɭ	ʎ

Vowel inventory: /a aː aˑ e eː eˑ i iː iˑ o oː oˑ u uː uˑ ʉ ʌ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	iˑ iː i	ʉ	uˑ uː u
High-mid	eˑ eː e		oˑ oː o
Low-mid			ʌ
Low	aˑ aː a

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, d, g, gr, h, j, k, kl, kr, kw, l, m, n, p, r, s, sl, sp, sŋ, t, w, x, ŋ, ŋr, ɖ, ɲ, ʂ, ʂp, ʈ, ʔ, ʔb, ʔd, ʔr, ʦ
Mid-word consonants: b, bd, bt, d, g, gm, h, j, jɲ, k, kw, l, lk, m, n, nd, nh, nl, ns, p, pl, pw, r, rt, rw, s, sp, st, t, tg, tk, tw, w, x, ŋ, ŋg, ŋh, ɖ, ɲ, ʂ, ʈ, ʎ, ʔ, ʦ
Word final consonants: bl, g, gs, jl, jn, jr, js, jt, jŋ, kl, ks, kt, l, lb, ld, lt, lʔ, lʦ, m, mp, mʔ, nd, ng, nk, nʦ, p, r, rb, rk, rt, s, st, t, w, wp, ws, wt, wŋ, wʔ, x, ŋ, ŋg, ŋk, ŋn, ɖ, ɭ, ɲ, ʂ, ʈ, ʎ, ʦ

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• k→Ø / _#
• s→ɟ / #_
• w→Ø / #_
• ja→je / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɖ	ḍ
ɭ	ḷ
ɲ	ñ
ʂ	ṣ
ʈ	ṭ
ʉ	ù
ʌ	ü
ʎ	ý
ʔ	’
ʦ	ts
ː	double vowel

Grammar

Main word order: Verb-Object-Oblique-Subject. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Opened the door with a key Mary.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Noun

Singular	No affix oo /oː/
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ld Else: Suffix -uld oold /oːld/

Nouns have four cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -es oos /oːs/
Absolutive	No affix oo /oː/
Genitive	Prefix wuː- wuuoo /ˈwuːoː/
Dative	Suffix -iˑnk ooiˑnk /ˈoːiˑnk/

Articles

Definite	klo /klo/ the
Indefinite	nguuý /ŋuːʎ/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	ḍiˑ /ɖiˑ/ I	aaks /aːks/ me	uˑḷ /uˑɭ/ my, mine	ubl /ubl/ to me
2nd singular	reˑ /reˑ/ you	’daˑks /ʔdaˑks/ you	eeng /eːng/ your, yours	bluuts /bluːʦ/ to you
3rd singular masc	o /o/ he, it	’uˑ /ʔuˑ/ him, it	bleeks /bleːks/ his, its	blooyng /bloːjŋ/ to him
3rd singular fem	giiyn /giːjn/ she, it	ags /ags/ her, it	pe /pe/ her, hers, its	u /u/ to her
1st plural	wuu /wuː/ we	ṣeˑ /ʂeˑ/ us	blaald /blaːld/ our, ours	klo /klo/ to us
2nd plural	nüṭ /nʌʈ/ you (all)	leˑ /leˑ/ you (all)	sloo /sloː/ your, yours (all)	ṭoo /ʈoː/ to you (all)
3rd plural	end /end/ they	ngraḷ /ŋraɭ/ them	oˑ /oˑ/ their, theirs	eˑ /eˑ/ to them

Verbs

Present	No affix hiyr /hijr/
Past	Prefix meˑ- meˑhiyr /ˈmeˑhijr/
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʎ Else: Suffix -aˑʎ hiyraˑý /ˈhijraˑʎ/
Future	Suffix -uːl hiyruul /ˈhijruːl/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ld
Else: Suffix -ald
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ox
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nsʌ
Else: Suffix -ʌnsʌ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -jɲe
Else: Suffix -eˑjɲe
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix buˑ-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix reˑ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -aːt
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -e
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix neː-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -oˑ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -aˑnd
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -iˑ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lt
Else: Suffix -aˑlt
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -muː
Else: Suffix -aˑmuː

Dictionary

85 Words.